Pelosi stands firm on law protecting kids in border battle

Pro-immigration activist Ricardo Reyes yells at anti-immigration activists during a rally in anticipation of the arrival of buses carrying undocumented immigrants to Oracle, Ariz.

Pro-immigration activist Ricardo Reyes yells at anti-immigration...

Washington -- House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco pushed back forcefully Thursday against efforts by Republicans and some in her own party to rewrite a 2008 child-trafficking law at the center of an escalating partisan fight in Congress over how to deal with Central American children and families flooding across the U.S. border.

The key provisions of the law were written by two Bay Area Democrats, Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Rep. Zoe Lofgren of San Jose. But they were also embraced by Republicans and signed by former President George W. Bush when the numbers fleeing Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador were a tenth of the estimated 57,000 children who have been caught entering the U.S. since October.

Republicans are now insisting that the law be changed to make it easier to deport the migrants before the GOP approves any money to deal with the influx. They are also considering giving President Obama less than half of the $3.7 billion in extra money he is seeking.

"I don't know how Congress can send more money to the border to begin to mitigate the problem if you don't do something about the '08 law that's being abused, and it is being abused," said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.

Years of delay

The 2008 law prevents the U.S. from quickly deporting children coming over the border alone from countries other than Mexico and Canada. Federal officials must assess each child to see if he or she is eligible for asylum or refugee residency, a process that can take years.

Children from Mexico are subject to a much quicker assessment by Border Patrol officials, a model that many Republicans and some Democrats believe should be applied to the Central Americans.

Pelosi said the situation can be fixed without changing the law. "I do not believe that they need a change in legislation to more expeditiously provide due process for all of the children that we're talking about," she said.

She denied that she was backtracking on earlier comments that changing the law would not be a "deal breaker" for Obama's funding request, saying she "did not appreciate the characterization" that Democrats want to send the children back.

Expanding the law

Pelosi has consistently said that if the law is changed, it should be expanded, not narrowed. At the time of her "deal breaker" comment, the San Francisco Democrat said if she had her druthers, Mexican trafficking victims and other asylum seekers from Mexico would get the same legal protections as those coming from other countries.

A Pew Research Poll released Wednesday shows 53 percent of those questioned want the legal process for dealing with Central American children to be accelerated, even if that means that some children who are eligible for asylum are deported. Obama drew strong dissatisfaction with his handling of the issue, with just 28 percent of the public approving, one of his lowest ratings on any issue since he became president.

But Obama, under pressure from Hispanic Democrats and Latino groups, appears to be backing away from earlier arguments that the trafficking law needs changes. The administration initially indicated it would seek authority to treat the Cental American children the same as those arriving from Mexico, but never formally introduced a proposal to do so.

'Enforce the law'

Lofgren said Thursday that Democrats have coalesced behind the 2008 law.

"Democrats are not saying every kid who comes cross the border gets to stay," Lofgren said. "We're saying, enforce the law."

Lofgren said the influx is a mix of people with various motivations.

"Some of these kids are sex-trafficking victims," she said. "Some of these kids are fleeing for their lives. Some of these kids have been convinced by a coyote that if they come now, they get a free pass. Some of these kids are coming because their parents are here."

More judges

Lofgren said that what is needed is more immigration judges to speed the process of sorting out who is who, something Obama's funding request could pay for.

"I don't personally believe that it's acceptable to have a hearing set two or three years from now," Lofgren said. "It gives the wrong message. ... If a child is not a trafficking victim and isn't fleeing for their life, you do need to give messages at home that what the coyotes are saying isn't true. There isn't a free pass, and for ineligible children, removal will deliver that message."

Feinstein defended the provisions she and Lofgren wrote but urged the administration to use an escape hatch that allows faster deportations under "exceptional circumstances."

Feinstein told Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson in a Senate hearing last week that the current situation could constitute "exceptional circumstances."

"It may be the number of children coming through in a week, or a month, however you see it," Feinstein said. "This is really hard, and from 5,000 we've gone now to 60,000, and I really, I offer to work with you. I hope the bill does not need amending, because it took six years to get where we are."